This application relates to the art of peeling apparatus for internally peeling metal tubes. The invention is particularly applicable to such apparatus for cleaning or lightly peeling tubes having out-of-round internal cross-sectional configurations, such as oval-shaped.
It is desirable to provide at least limited inward and outward adjustment of cutter holders on peeling heads for internally peeling tubes of different diameters. It is very desirable to have such an adjustment which can be made without changing the attack angle or cutting geometry of the cutters. In peeling heads of this type having rigidly mounted cutter holders, the cutters are capable of acting only on essentially true cylindrical surfaces.
It is frequently desirable to clean or lightly peel internal surfaces of tubes having non-circular cross-sectional configurations. That is, the tubes are only slightly out of round, such as slightly oval. In order to clean or lightly peel such surfaces, the cutter holders are pivotally mounted to the head adjacent one end portion of the cutter holders. This allows the cutter holders to swing outwardly under the influence of centrifugal force as the cutter head rotates. The cutters are then capable of acting on out-of-round internal surfaces. In previous arrangements, inward and outward adjustment of the swingable cutter holders was possible only at the swingable end portions thereof. Such an adjustment arrangement changes the attack angle or cutting geometry of the cutters in an undesirable manner.
It would be desirable to have a cutter head with cutter holders which would be swingable outwardly and inwardly, and would also be adjustable for acting on different diameters without changing the cutting geometry of the cutters.